In FY2021, Prudential reported a net profit of US$2.2 billion, down 10%, excluding the impact of the demerger of Jackson Financial.
Including the demerger of Jackson Financial which was completed in Sept 2021, Prudential reported a net loss of US$2.8 billion.
Prudential’s bottomline loss belies an improvement in its sales and other metrics. Annual premium equivalent (APE) sales - which measures new business activity including annualised regular premiums and one-tenth of single premiums - rose 8% y-o-y to US$4.19 billion.
New business profit surged 13% to US$2.52 billion; while adjusted operating profit continuing operations increased by 16% y-o-y to US$3.23 billion.
Prudential announced a second interim dividend of 11.86 US cents per share, taking full-year dividends to 17.23 US cents per share.
“Prudential has delivered high-quality, resilient growth as we completed the strategic re-positioning of our business to focus solely on Asia and Africa. We have continued to deliver for our customers against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic," says outgoing group chief executive Mike Wells.
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"In the fourth quarter, we carried out a successful US$2.4 billion equity raise in Hong Kong. In December 2021 and January 2022 cash from this issuance was deployed in deleveraging our balance sheet in a US$2.25 billion debt reduction programme.
"These actions, together with the associated reduction in interest costs, have enhanced our financial flexibility in light of the breadth of opportunities to invest for growth in Asia and Africa," he adds.
Within Singapore, Prudential has reported annual premium equivalent sales of US$743 million, up 19% over FY2020.
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New business profit was up 49%, reflecting higher sales volumes and a favourable shift in product mix towards health and protection products as well as higher-margin investment-linked products.
Operating profit in the same period was up 13% to US$663 million, with growth seen across various market segments include that targeting high net worth individuals.
With this level of operating profits, Singapore has become the firm’s second largest market.
Dennis Tan, Prudential Singapore’s CEO, says the firm’s focus on strengthening its distribution capabilities has been instrumental to deliver on its ambitious growth in the year.
Besides its team of 5,000 financial consultants, Prudential partners with banks such as UOB and Standard Chartered.
“We are well-positioned to leverage Singapore’s status as an important business hub in Asia to accelerate our growth.
“We continue to see significant prospects in expanding the servicing of the high net worth and SME customers, which saw substantial growth in 2021.
We will drive the business forward to take advantage of the opportunities that arise as the local and global economies recover,” says Tan.
